Indiana education funding up from 2019 legislative session, but ‘historic’ might be a reach

Republican legislative leaders touted “historic” funding increases
for K-12 schools in the new state budget, yet for many West Central
Indiana districts, estimates show those increases below the rate of
inflation.

Funding for K-12 public schools will increase $539
million over the biennium; when adding in additional money for vouchers,
charters, teacher grants and school safety that number jumps to $763
million, or about 2.5 percent each year.

The rate of inflation was 1.9 percent in March, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Democrats
note that traditional public schools — excluding charters — are getting
a 2 percent increase while charters are going up 10 percent the first
year and vouchers 9 percent.

School funding estimates shows that
North Central Parke Community School Corp. will see funding decreases
both years, down 1.9 percent the first year and down 2 percent the
second year.

The funding formula also estimates that enrollment will continue to decline.

In
2013, Turkey Run and Rockville school districts merged into North
Central Parke, and this past year, the two high schools and middle
schools consolidated to become Parke Heritage middle school and high
school.

Tom Rohr, retiring superintendent of North Central Parke,
said that any additional funds for public education are much
appreciated.

But schools with declining enrollments, such as North
Central Parke, “continue to see a downward spiral in its ability to
provide educational programs comparable to growing districts. The state
needs to recognize that small rural districts continue to struggle even
though there are statewide average increases. The gap between growing
districts and declining districts will continue to widen under the
present funding formula,” he said.

Declining enrollment and
revenue “makes it extremely difficult for us to offer the kinds of
programs we would like and to attract and keep good teachers, when we’re
competing with those schools in pocket areas that have a lot of growth
and are getting significant new money,” Rohr said.

It means the
district must become even more efficient, “and unfortunately, we’re not
going to be able to offer the kinds of salary increase that many other
schools with growing enrollments can offer,” he said. “We’d like to
avoid cutting staff as much as possible, but at the same time, there
will be a point in time where those tough decisions have to be made.”

The
Vigo County School Corp. is projected to receive a 0.9 percent increase
the first year and 1.3 percent the second year, and the state also
projects continued enrollment declines.

“Our state legislators
have a very difficult time in addressing all the needs our entire state
has,” said Rob Haworth VCSC superintendent. But challenges and
requirements placed in front of schools are increasing.

With the
projected funding increases at less than inflation rates, “It’s really
difficult for our school corporation to keep up with all the financial
challenges we face.” At a February state of the schools address, he
pointed out that the district’s cash balance has declined $7 million in
two years.

“When we see those numbers, it’s disheartening ... and
it will be difficult for us to meet all the needs we currently have, and
that’s not talking about all the other things we’d like to do,” Haworth
said.

He also pointed to declines in the complexity index, which
factors in children who live in poverty. “The state is really devaluing
complexity,” Haworth said. “When we start thinking about schools in our
similar circumstances, those complexity dollars have been helpful in
addressing some of the issues faced by children coming from difficult
circumstances, and to see those dollars go away, that becomes
disappointing as well.”

The hope is that as state legislators
continue to study school funding, “They will look at those issues
revolving around the complexity index and equity,” Haworth said. “Should
every child be funded equally, or are there situations in which it may
cost a little more to educate some of our children.”

State legislators react

State
Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, who just concluded her first session
as a state legislator, said she was “disappointed” with the outcome as
far as funding for public schools. “One of the main goals of the session
was to raise teacher salaries and to fund public education. That’s not
happening,” she said.

Ninety-three percent of Indiana students go
to public schools, yet public school funding went up just 2.06 percent.
Meanwhile, funding for charters went up 10.3 percent and vouchers, 9.3
percent, she said.

With the minimal increases, or even decreases,
for West Central Indiana districts, “How can we possibly raise teacher
salaries?” she said.

Republicans say the Legislature is “giving
all this money to education, but they’re still leaving public schools
behind,” Pfaff said.

“All the teachers I work with just want their
salary increased,” she said. “Grants are fine, tax credits for supplies
are okay. But at the end of the day, [teachers] don’t want to have to
have two jobs to do what they love. If you look at surrounding states,
all pay more than Indiana.”

The issue of inadequate pay has not been addressed, and “it will
contribute to our teacher shortage even more. In the end, it hurts our
kids,” Pfaff said.

State Sen. Jon Ford, R-Terre Haute, said per
pupil spending amounts will increase for West Central Indiana districts,
“but I think it’s definitely challenging here as our school-age
population continues to shrink,” and funding follows the student.

He
believes it was a “good session overall” for investing more money into
K-12 education, which receives slightly over half of the state budget.

There was a total of $763 million in new money for K-12 education, including $539 million for public school tuition support.

Teacher
appreciation grants — stipends for effective and highly effective
teachers — have increased from $30 million a year to $37.5 million, and
“we put an emphasis on teachers with less than five years of service,”
Ford said.

West Central Indiana districts will need to “look at
how they operate,” he said. Operational expenses in this area “are
higher than the average,” he said.

Teachers union reacts

The
Indiana State Teachers Association says the budget reflects progress
for education funding, and the increases in this budget for public
schools would be the largest in 11 years.

“This is largely due to
the activism of our members and public education advocates,” according
to an ISTA statement provided by Kim Fidler, ISTA representative.

Members
and advocates “showed up in the thousands to demonstrate at the
Statehouse, hosted community and school walk-ins and connected with
legislators in Indianapolis and back home,” according to the statement.
“These actions helped unite support and advance issues of compensation,
education funding and the teacher shortage.”

According to the
statement, ISTA “presented reasonable goals for funding increases to the
legislature, however, policymakers remain unwilling to expand revenue
to address long-term public education funding issues and teacher pay. We
will continue to fight for increased teacher pay and funding for every
student.”

Gov. Eric Holcomb’s has appointed a Next Level Teacher
Compensation Commission that is studying how to improve teacher
compensation, and ISTA will have input.

“The Red For Ed movement
here in Indiana is just getting started,” the statement said. “We will
not stop until public schools are fully funded, educators get the pay
and respect they deserve and that all kids — no matter their ZIP code —
receive a quality public education.”

Other budget improvements for
public schools, ISTA notes, include: a pension pay down, in which $150
million from the state’s budget surplus will be used to free up funds
schools would otherwise have had to pay the state and now can be used
for other purposes. Also, teacher appreciation grant funding went from
$30 million a year to $37.5 million, which are one-time stipends for
effective and highly effective teachers.

In addition, the secured school grant will be $19 million each of the next two years.

Southwest Sullivan schools

Southwest Sullivan schools are projected to receive a 1.8 percent increase the first year, and 2.7 percent the second year.

Superintendent
Chris Stitzle said the district “is encouraged by any kind of increase,
but those are just estimates.” Final funding won’t be determined until
after student enrollment is counted in September.

The
district would be “pleased” with increases of 1.8 and 2.7 percent. “We
would always like more, but we understand there are a lot of different
services the state must provide for individuals and communities.”

If
those increases materialize, “Hopefully we can pass them along to our
teachers and our support staff in the form of increased salaries. I
think they all deserve it,” he said.